Empirical Asset Management LLC Takes $3.73 Million Position in Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)

Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,733,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Zscaler by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 17,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,166,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Zscaler by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in Zscaler during the 4th quarter valued at $1,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Zscaler by 59.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 190,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,421,000 after buying an additional 71,297 shares during the period. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Zscaler during the 4th quarter worth $203,000. 46.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zscaler Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ ZS opened at $187.55 on Friday. Zscaler, Inc. has a 12-month low of $153.45 and a 12-month high of $259.61. The company has a market cap of $28.78 billion, a PE ratio of -750.20 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $188.20.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 2nd. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.14. Zscaler had a negative return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 1.58%. The company had revenue of $628.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $605.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.18) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Zscaler, Inc. will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Zscaler news, CFO Remo Canessa sold 3,703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.32, for a total value of $741,784.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 220,635 shares in the company, valued at $44,197,603.20. This represents a 1.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,863 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.32, for a total value of $573,516.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 358,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,828,542.08. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,248 shares of company stock valued at $2,052,879 over the last 90 days. 18.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas began coverage on Zscaler in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Zscaler in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Zscaler from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Zscaler from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Zscaler from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.84.

About Zscaler

Zscaler, Inc operates as a cloud security company worldwide. The company offers Zscaler Internet Access solution that provides users, workloads, IoT, and OT devices secure access to externally managed applications, including software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and internet destinations; and Zscaler Private Access solution, which is designed to provide access to managed applications hosted internally in data centers, and private or public clouds.